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Friday, June 2, 2017

Lakewood breaks the 100,000 mark -fastest growing town in NJ

Unofficially Its probably over 100,00 for a while but now its official Lakewood has hit the over 100,000 mark. NJ.com (BY DAVID J. DEL GRANDE) LAKEWOOD -- The township has exceeded 100,000 residents, making it the eighth largest in New Jersey, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's most recent data. The Ocean County town now has approximately 100,758 residents, according to the bureau's data from 2016. That's a 1.5 percent increase compared to the previous year. Very few local municipalities are expanding the way Lakewood is, said James W. Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. Lakewood had 99,231 residents in 2015, and added more than 26,529 people to its population since the recession. In 2000, the township had just 60,352 residents.Lakewood's growth is due to an increase in the town's Latino community, its senior citizen community and its Jewish community. The 25-square-mile town is the largest yeshiva in North America, and is home to one of the largest Orthodox Jewish Communities on the East Coast. Hughes said Lakewood is unique because its growth stems from a religious group that wants to live in the same community.In 2016, Lakewood also had the most new home construction in the state. Developers were issued 710 permits. A total of 560 permits were issued to one- and two-family homes and 150 went to multifamily homes.But for the last seven years, the majority of New Jersey's urban development has centered around train stations for workers commuting to New York City, Hughes said.

The growth has not come without issues. The Lakewood Public School District may be forced to layoff 13 staff members because of a funding deficit. The public school system has about 6,000 students, and approximately 30,000 students who attend private school, which cater to the town's burgeoning Jewish population.If a local municipality reaches its service capacity, they get gun shy about growth and tend to balk at new development, Hughes said. How a town negotiates growth is a complex equation, he added.